


The stumbling path of those who deny the world

by chacusha



Category: Bravely Default (Video Game) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Bravely Secret Santa 2020, Character Study, Double Drabble Series, M/M, Relationship Study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:48:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28339494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chacusha/pseuds/chacusha
Summary: You can't owe, or be concerned for, or love, someone who doesn't -- won't -- exist. That's something Janne has to continually remind himself. A series of six 200-word double drabbles.
Relationships: Denys Geneolgia & Janne Angard, Janne Angard/Yew Geneolgia
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	The stumbling path of those who deny the world

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SofyTrancy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SofyTrancy/gifts).



> And more Janne/Yew. I tried to make this one a bit more hurt/comfort-y and angsty but it's still quite light. (And uh... Denys snuck in here quite a lot.) Hope you enjoy!
> 
> This fic assumes Denys recruited Janne before Janne met Yew or went to Al-Khampis. (I have no idea if that's actually the case.)

(1)

The kaiser warns him ahead of time that he might encounter his brother at Al-Khampis, but Janne is still thrown when he actually meets Yew Geneolgia. Janne already has in his mind a clear image of, one, the kaiser and, two, how he's always pictured the heir of House Geneolgia -- a house that has made so many ruthless, self-serving decisions in its historied past. (In fact, those two mental images share quite a bit in common: charisma, determination, ambition.)

Yew is nothing like either. He's enthusiastic, warm-hearted, sheltered... more than a little pathetic... In other words, a puppy. Janne is immediately fascinated. If the leaders of House Geneolgia had all been like Yew... well, the house probably wouldn't have survived very long, especially considering how Yew was barely surviving the older students' bullying.

Perhaps mistaking Janne's fascination for friendliness, Yew quickly latches onto him, and before he knows it, they're training together (more like, Janne is toughening Yew up a bit). Well, that's fine. As Janne gets to know Yew better, he develops an appreciation for Yew's eccentricity and bookishness. And he even sees a little family resemblance: Yew has the same idealism as his brother, the same dogged tenacity.

(2)

Probably the first time Janne saves Yew's life is during their survival basics class. The whole class was walking along the ridges and cliffs near Al-Khampis as their teacher pointed out healing herbs that could be foraged, and Yew lost his footing. He probably would have survived the fall even if Janne hadn't managed to grab hold of his shirt, but who knows. He could have been unlucky. As he held a fistful of Yew's clothing, their bodies perfectly balanced and still -- Yew's hanging out over the cliffside, Janne's crouched and steady -- it of course occurred to him that he could simply let go.

The irony wasn't lost on him, both at that time and during the many times when Janne's actions or inaction could have cost Yew his life: he could so easily kill the boy whose father as good as killed his. And yet that boy always looked at him with perfect trust. Why shouldn't he? After all, the scion of House Geneolgia considered him, Janne, a _friend._

Janne always saved him anyway. It didn't matter either way. Janne had much bigger ambitions. Why cut down the leaf of a tree when you intend to uproot it whole?

(3)

The first time Yew saves _his_ life, Janne is unreasonably irritated. They were on a mission from the pope, trying to take down an old Eternian golem that had been terrorizing travelers near Gathelatio; Janne slipped up, and Yew ended up parrying a blow that would have gone straight into Janne's head. While some part of him was proud that Yew had managed to deflect the golem's blow like that, mostly he'd hated the feeling of owing Yew anything, and he'd been glad for the chance to pay the favor back. (It came sooner than expected -- Yew badly sprained his ankle in the fight and in the end Janne had to carry him the half-mile back to Gathelatio.)

The kaiser later chastised him for that sort "accounting"-style thinking. Janne's actions weren't wrong, he said, but his mindset was illogical: in the world they were creating, history would be changed; people would wink out of existence and for those who lived on, their slates would be wiped clean. How could you owe anything to a person who never existed?

"Simply be glad that, through the actions of others, you live to see another day, and live to carry on your mission."

(4)

Janne visits the comatose Yew for at least a few minutes each day, sometimes longer. He needs to keep updated on his condition, plus he also has to keep up the appearance of a loyal Crystalguard knight for a little bit longer. Looking at Yew's unconscious body, he once again thinks how easy it would be to finish the job. No one would have to be any the wiser. In fact, Anne strongly recommended that course of action. The kaiser had decided against it, though, taking the gamble that his brother might just not wake up. Not in time to stop him, at least.

It's surprisingly soft of him. After all, does it really matter if Yew dies now when he's going to wink out of existence anyway?

Janne isn't one to talk, though -- he finds himself heartened when Alfred says Yew's wounds have closed; wants him to keep clinging on to life. None of it makes sense.

In any case, the kaiser has decided that Yew, at least for now, poses no threat, and Janne abides by it. "Might as well keep sleeping, Sleeping Beauty," he says. There's nothing to see here anyway, except the end of this world.

(5)

Yew escaped. Janne failed. In Pilgrim's Grove, the rain fell like tears.

When he reports back to the kaiser, Denys is quiet for a long moment. When he speaks, he just says, "You love Yew, don't you?"

Janne freezes.

It's true of course. Crystals know how much he tried to avoid it. But it happened anyway over the years, bit by bit. So many people in the world, and he fell in love with one Geneolgia while serving another. The world just _loves_ its irony. "Your Majesty, trust me, I have no problem carrying out my mission--"

"I'm not questioning your resolve, Janne. It is just wise to be fully honest about the emotions that form part of our constitution, so that we can anticipate them and plan accordingly." He turns to the long row of windows, clasping his hands behind him. "I, too, still love Yew, after all."

He was saying, then, that Janne's feelings didn't have to be suppressed. But Janne can't see the point in having them at all. You can't love someone who never existed. What happens, Janne wonders, to the feelings of love that someone who doesn't exist feels for someone who also doesn't exist?

(6)

"I hate that way of thinking," Yew tells him, his voice filling with emotion. "'We're going to fix everything, so nothing we do here and now matters.' 'It doesn't matter how I treat someone because they won't have existed.' 'Who cares if I love people in this world? It's all going to disappear anyway!' I just can't think that way. When someone is kind to me, I want to repay them; when I see someone in pain, I want to help them. All the people I love are in _this_ world. It's not wrong to treasure those bonds and fight for them. Don't you agree?" He looks Janne straight in the eye, and without speaking, Janne knows that he is one of those people Yew is fighting for.

Suddenly, the world seems upended. All the things Janne struggled for years to wrap his mind around... suddenly Yew is here telling him it never made sense, that that way of thinking -- renouncing and denying the connections, love, conscience experienced in this world -- was twisted and backwards from the start.

That's yet one more thing Yew shares with Denys -- he can be persuasive. For the first time, Janne feels his resolve falter.


End file.
